Being adaptable means that when your world changes around you, you change with it, comfortably. Remote workers use so much technology that change is always around the corner, and adapting too slowly can cause a lot of headaches. So, how can you get better at managing change? The good news is there are clear practical steps to help you improve how you manage change, and some are just a matter of thinking about change differently!
Why Change What's Already Working?
Stepping outside your comfort zone and walking into the unknown can be scary, but it's an important part of improving your adaptability. But, moving away from the things we already know work, and trying something new, can feel like madness and a waste of time. So why make the effort to try and fix something that isn't broken? Well, here are three good reasons:
Teach Your Body that Change is Safe
Adaptability is something that we need to practice, it doesn't come naturally to us. Every time we enter an unknown situation our bodies naturally release stress hormones that make us feel anxious, and the more hormone released, the more anxious we feel. But, each time we leave our comfort zones and we stay safe and healthy, we teach our bodies they don't need to release so much stress hormone next time. So, over time, we become less and less anxious about learning new things until it is a normal part of our lives.
Staying Up-To-Date
The methods you are comfortable with and experienced using are unlikely to be available forever. New software and routines are usually designed to improve difficult processes and make work easier. There are many benefits to trying out new methods to see if they fit you better, and over time it will become necessary to move on from outdated ones. Changing from 'method 1' to 'method 2' after 10 years of using the same process can be quite stressful, so it's important to try new things more often and keep your options open.
Increasing your Professional Skillset
Learning new processes, technology, and software is a bit like having a variety of keys on your keychain. Yes, when you have 6 keys that are very different it takes time to learn where they fit and how to use them properly. But, it's very likely that with a bigger set of keys, when there are changes in your career you will already have a key that fits. If you only have one 10-year-old key, a time will come when your new colleagues, bosses, processes, and procedures stop using the 'lock' you have a key for. They'll have updated to more modern locks, and then you'll be under pressure to get all the new keys.
Open Up and Enjoy Change
One of the biggest improvements you can make to how you manage change is adapting how you think and feel about changes in your life. It's easy to develop a negative attitude toward change, but you can remind yourself of all the positives that come with change to help you enjoy the new things that come your way:
It's exciting - the opposite of change is boredom. Boredom isn't frightening, but it isn't much fun either. Remember how good it feels to learn something new, to master a skill, or to make a discovery. Change can take effort but it can also be exciting.
It can be motivational - change can introduce new interests, specialisms, and goals to aim for, encouraging you to keep going.
It can fix problems - things often change because people have found new ways to fix old problems. As a society we look for solutions, try them, and keep the ones that work.
Failure is a great teacher - failures are fantastic learning opportunities. Trying new things and failing teaches you what works, what doesn't, and why. We always learn valuable lessons from understanding failures and develop more as people.
So, when change comes around in your life, try to see it as an opportunity to explore new experiences, fix annoying problems, learn about yourself, and satisfy your natural curiosity. Don't let large changes overwhelm you either, you can always look at them as groups of smaller changes for you to progress through and learn from. It's all about how you perceive it.
Learning to Be More Resilient
Everybody goes through difficult times, and we often 'fall'. Resilience is about how you get back up again. Getting back up is a must-have quality if you want to be more adaptable, especially when working from home. Becoming a remote worker throws a lot of change into your life like feeling lonely, having difficulty with your work-life balance, and being separate from your team. Resilience doesn't stop the changes coming, but it keeps you from falling so often and gets you back up again quickly and confidently
Tips For Improving Your Resilience
Remember it's a learning curve - at the beginning, learning to accept change takes effort, but remind yourself that with time and practice it becomes easier. All the effort you put in now makes your future changes easier to manage.
Focus on the positives - what's going well at the moment? Take strength from that success and use it to comfort yourself through difficult times.
Example: "I'm thankful things are going well with decorating my house, that makes me feel really relaxed and comfortable after work".
Take breaks - give yourself time to relax and recharge regularly, and make it a priority. This can help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and stay resilient.
Ask for Feedback
It's quite common to ask for feedback from more experienced people when things go wrong. It makes sense, you learn from their experience and can try a new method next time. But, making it a habit to ask for regular informal feedback from all kinds of people in all kinds of situations can make you a bit of an adaptivity superhero. So don't limit who you ask too much, good advice can come from surprising places.
Receiving feedback doesn't mean you have to agree with it, but it can be an amazing source of new ideas, quick and practical learning, and gives you shortcuts to learning more efficient ways to do things.
Tips on Asking for Feedback
Actually ask! - in many cultures offering developmental feedback without being asked is seen as quite rude. Let people know it's a normal and helpful thing for you. This will help people to be more open and honest with you.
Keep it casual - unless you need feedback for a formal work-related progress check, keep your feedback requests to quick and casual questions. This helps people feel more comfortable giving you tips without feeling like a serious meeting is thrown at them every time you ask.
Example: Instead of saying "I would like to schedule a feedback session with you to discuss my performance on this task," try something like:
"How would you have approached that task?",
"Do you have any ideas on how I could do that better?",
"What do you think about how I did <task name>? I still think I could improve on that."
Take feedback as a gift - all feedback is a gift to help you learn, understand, and improve. React positively and appreciate any feedback given to you. You won't always agree, and some tips won't work out for you, but all feedback is an opportunity, even if it only helps you to understand how other people see your work. Your positive response and thanks will encourage more genuine feedback from your colleagues in the future.
Keep your boss informed - check in regularly to get feedback from your boss and share your learning. This shows a great attitude to change and a real commitment to your work.
There's an online course for that! - had some helpful feedback you want to learn from? See if you can find some educational materials or courses on that topic. This could give you a nice goal to achieve and is a great way to show your boss what you are learning.
Build a Friendly and Reliable Support System
Having a support system of people you can rely on for guidance and encouragement is important because it can help you feel less alone when dealing with problems in your career. A reliable support system can help keep you motivated and confident, as well as giving you excellent feedback and advice.
Tips for Building a Good Support System
Identify your emotional support network - think about who you can trust with your emotional health, and keep these people close. See them regularly and benefit from their kindness and support.
Think about joining activity or hobby groups - resiliency and change management aren't all about work, you need some fun too. Social activity groups are a great way to destress and enjoy some downtime.
Identify possible career mentors - who do you know who could guide you on career matters? Look for someone you trust and respect, with experience in your field, and ask if they have time in their life to have the occasional mentoring session with you.
Look for industry support networks - lots of industries already have support and peer networks. Take some time to look online and see if there are already any chat groups, regular video calls, or forums for your industry.
Create an industry support network? - if there isn't a support network that's appropriate for your industry, do you have time to start one?
Drop anything that isn't helping - support networks have to be positive or they add to the problem. If any group or person is adding to your stress or making you feel unsupported, drop them from your support network. They can stay in your family and friends, of course! Just don't rely on them for career or emotional support.
Manage Your Stress Healthily
It's normal for change to make people feel stressed. The problem is that stress makes it difficult to adjust to change! To develop good change management skills and resiliency, you need to be serious about managing your stress. With lower stress levels you can focus on the positives of change, adapt more quickly and easily, and possibly even learn to enjoy it.
Identify Your Stressors
Step 1 in healthy stress management is working out exactly what's stressing you out, and finding ways to reduce or remove that stress. Can you delegate or postpone some tasks? Can you break your tasks into smaller more manageable sub-tasks? Can you get advice or support for this stressor? Do you need a break to recharge?
Helpful Stress Management Tools
Once you have identified what's stressing you out, you can use stress management tools to help you reduce the stress symptoms you feel in your body and thoughts. Here are some examples of popular stress management tools:
Mindfulness in nature to help connect you with peaceful surroundings.
Progressive muscle relaxation to help you relax your body.
Guided imagery exercises to get you to your happy place.
Grounding exercises to help you focus on the here and now.
Breathing exercises to help reduce your heart rate and calm you down.
Headspace is a great phone app for helping you to start practicing breathing exercises and meditation.
The best stress management approach is to combine exercises and tools that work for you with creative outlets you enjoy and home comforts. You might find that, for you, the best combination is 10 minutes of breathing exercises, a slow dog walk through nature, and a cup of coffee in the bath. Everyone's stress management 'recipe' will be different, so try things and see what works for you. But remember, everyone's stress management recipe includes getting enough good sleep!
Wrap Up
Getting good at managing change does take a little work and effort to start with, but what you invest now will help make future changes easier to deal with. Open yourself up to learning from change and try to look for the positives. Surround yourself with supportive people and use change as an opportunity to improve your skills and experience.
Resilience starts with a change in attitude and, with time, it becomes part of who you are: someone you know change is normal, expects it, and sometimes even enjoys it. Learn to take care of yourself by developing a stress management routine, and remember to socialize and have fun. These are all part of your personal recipe for thriving with change. So give yourself time to experiment and find out how you can improve your attitude to change and manage your stress.
Helpful Links
Staying Physically Healthy While Working from Home - a Go2 guide on maintaining your health and fitness when working from home.
Staying Mentally Healthy While Working from Home - a Go2 guide on maintaining your mental health and positive mindset when working from home.